Quate U.S. Pat. No. 4,575,822 describes a data storage medium on which, using a STM with a probe tip, indicia are written by forming perturbations on the surface of a substrate. The indicia are then read by scanning over the indicia with the tip of the STM.
The most pertinent prior art of which applicant is aware is Kazan U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,732, which also describes several embodiments of a recording medium. One comprises a substrate having a surface coated with a monolayer of atoms and from which atoms are selectively removed by modulating the input signal to a STM tip to write indicia. Another embodiment comprises a substrate having a surface onto which atoms are selectively deposited to write indicia. In both embodiments, the STM is used to read back information by imaging the surface.
No prior art known to applicant discloses or suggests the repositioning of an atom or molecule from one position on the surface of a substrate to another position on said surface, or the repositioning of atoms or molecules of the same or different type on the same surface to fabricate a desired structure or to synthesize a compound, such as a long-chain copolymer.